Born in 1962, David Lidbetter developed an early appreciation for the Canadian wilderness. Times spent traveling with his family through scenic provinces became the catalyst for his future painting career and an intensive art studio program in his formative teenage years solidified his love for art.

After many years of exploring various mediums and subject matter, Lidbetter has spent the last 10 painting highly identifiable and unquestionably Canadian landscapes in oil. He works close to his home and studio in Ottawa, Canada in areas like Temagami, Gatineau and Algonquin Park. It is no coincidence that his work is reminiscent to the vistas explored by other landscape painters like Tom Thomson and The Group of Seven.

David’s work has been recognized as highly collectable and described as “contemporary feeling Group of Seven scenes pared down to their essentials... mood seems more important than the actual details of forests, rivers and skies.”

David will spend days in local forests and nearby lakes photographing, studying, sketching and absorbing the information he will later turn into larger paintings.

He says of his ever-evolving work “The scenes that capture me are often the ones that would immediately be overlooked by others. Something usually catches my eye, such as a change of light or a strong contrast of colour and shapes”

"I look for inspiration in what may be considered bleak and desolate landscapes. A blanket of winter snow with a single bare tree silhouetted against a cold grey sky. A band of translucent, pale orange light breaking through a dark storm cloud over a frozen lake or a single autumn leaf left hanging after the first winter storm provides endless possibilities for dramatic paintings. By looking past what one might consider the more conventional beauty of nature, I attempt to illuminate the unexpected."